“There is no utopia,” Ken Gaspard, a resident of the Ninth Ward in New Orleans, says in the documentary “Informant.” He’s talking about the radicals and their ideals that came there to help with relief and set up Common Ground in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Gaspard isn’t dismissive or snide; he’s being practical, especially given the destruction that surrounds him.

Every year I walk away from Cucalorus thinking the documentaries are the best part. This year the selection looks great and an afternoon showing of “Informant” at City Stage got my fix off on a great note. It succeeds in telling us a story and leaving you with much to think about.

“Informant” is about Brandon Darby, an activist who was part of Common Ground in New Orleans post-Katrina. He is a complicated person, someone that idealized being a revolutionary and who would eventually become an informant for the FBI. It’s a choice that has left him a hated, and to some degree, a wanted man.

The documentary from director and Stanford Professor Jamie Meltzer opens uncomfortably with a few moments trying to begin interviewing Darby. It’s a choice that lets the audience know up front that Meltzer’s subject is complicated, one who was a hero to the political left and then to the right.

Growing up in Texas, Darby’s parents divorced in his teens and later he became a runaway. The experience seems to have cast a shadow of distrust over his life, especially with authority. It’s a scenario that likely led to fascination with revolutionary groups like the Black Panther Party. Darby befriended them, thought resolutely that their ideals, and others like them, were productive to changing the U.S., especially with what he saw in New Orleans post-Katrina.

Darby risked life and limb to find an ex-Panther friend in the aftermath of the storm. He led a group in helping restore life in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Footage and interviews show him clashing with authority over working in the area to get relief. Those he worked with describe him as ego-driven, charismatic and taking charge harshly. In the end, Darby changed things, and he wanted to do more.

Darby travelled to Venezuela to meet with government liaisons and obtain help from them for New Orleans. Darby said his idea was to embarrass the U.S. with this help and he wanted to meet real revolutionaries. The experience profoundly affected Darby, something he only partly divulges.

He returned to the U.S., disappeared briefly, and returned with a different affection for beliefs about being a revolutionary. He said he saw the results of revolutionary actions in Venezuela, of which no good can come, essentially from chaos and fighting.

He began to see those willing to cause harm and destruction as the wrong way to go, especially when there was an effort underway to crash the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. Darby turned to the authorities, a choice that even surprised him.

Eventually supplying information to the FBI about two young men who made Molotov cocktails for use against the police, Darby marched with radicals in St. Paul and video recorded people smashing windows, police cars and causing chaos.

His testimony turned many against him at Common Ground and in the anarchist movement. To say he is reviled is an understatement. He lives at home in Austin, Texas with an alarm system and weaponry for protection. Steadfastly he says he isn’t leaving his home and turned down witness protection fro the bureau.

Meltzer’s film is done in a way that allows the viewer to decide about Darby and what he’s done. In the end, regardless of political beliefs, I got the sense that he did what he felt was right and he comes across not necessarily as a hero, as many have made him about to be. Watching “Informant” I got the sense he did what he thought what was the right thing to do.

It would be easy to simply say he betrayed, he sold out, but it’s interesting that as he continued to work with the FBI in another capacity later on, he went against them when he believed they didn’t pursue cases vigorously enough. Meltzer made interesting choices in how information is conveyed and with his editing choices. He didn’t edit to provide a twist at the end, or surprise the audience. It appears he’s acted objectively as a filmmaker in portraying all sides.

Emile Bokaer, one of the producers on the self-funded film, said during a post-film q&a that Darby, among others had seen the film. He said that Darby “doesn’t love the film” but that it would be hard someone like him to given his need for controlling his public image.

Bokaer also said that director Meltzer was surprised at the course of the film, where Darby ended up and his involvement with the Tea Party.

The film has shown at a few festivals and they hope to distribute it soon. “Informant” would be an interesting companion documentary to “If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front.”

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The WAE: Wilmington-area Arts & Entertainment is dedicated to experiencing, discussing and promoting the arts in Southeastern N.C. From theater and all manner of music to visual art, dance, festivals and more, The WAE is populated by people who are immersed in local A&E. If it’s about A&E in Southeastern N.C., then we’re all about it.